birds of a feather

More rain? Maybe.....I can't remember if it did in fact rain yesterday. The sun sure didn't bother to show it's face - that I know for sure. Our big outing for yesterday was a trip to the grocery store for cinnamon rolls. We live large don't we? We also picked up some eggs so we could have pancakes this week. Again, livin' large here in BearCountry!

Julia was out of sorts all afternoon so it was a good thing she fell asleep at rest time. I don't remember the last time she took a nap. It's been a few weeks at least. PapaBear returned from a weekend up North with his dad and future brother-in-law so we spent the rest of the afternoon/evening getting things unpacked.

The kids stayed in bed at bedtime for a change (good ol' bribe of ice cream after dinner tonight did the trick). It was ironic then when I called for them to come out of their rooms so they could see what I found right outside our bathroom window. I know it's hard to tell from the picture but those are little birds perched on our grape vines. There were FIVE of them when I first pulled the curtain back. We had a great time whispering and carefully pointing when a new bird would land right in front of us. It was a bird's eye view well worth getting the kids out of bed for!

25 Days of Christmas Ornaments - Day 7

Homemade Ornaments - this week's theme for 25 Days of Christmas Ornaments

I'm sorry I didn't get this posted earlier, we were up to our elbows in gingerbread dough for a gingerbread house decorating party I'm hosting tomorrow.


I made this ornament when Sam was two out of scraps of felt. It was the year of Thomas the Train. Grizzly Gramps made him a train table that year and we bought him his first set of tracks. I will always remember watching his eyes light up when the train table appeared in the living room at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

If you want to design and make your own ornaments out of felt it's really quite easy. The felt is backed with card stock for stability and I used some tacky glue to assemble it. I can't remember where I scrounged up the 'steam' but it's holding up pretty well.

Don't forget that tomorrow is going to be a Blog Hop MckLinky so get your favorite homemade ornament ready to share! Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to get back to watching White Christmas. The trees are lit, a candle is burning, and I'm almost half way done baking five gingerbread houses. I'm going to work on some Christmas presents and then go to bed...Before Midnight. I have been waiting for this day for what feels like forever.

Goodnight!

By the Numbers

When things start swirling around in my brain at a frenzied pace I know it's time to do a By the Numbers post.

3,565 - the number of blog book pages I need to design by December 1st in order to have any semblance of family time during Advent.

3 - the number of times I got up last night to turn off the hall light that Sam kept turning back on

11 - the number of campers who checked in yesterday (the busiest Thursday we've ever had)

1 - the number of times I called the Sheriff'sOffice this week

697 - the number of twitter updates I've written

2.5 - the number of S'mores I ate last night

123 - the number of followers I had yesterday

122 - the number of followers I have today

2 - the number of friends camping in the campground this weekend

112,647 - the number of hits on my blog since September

6 - the number of blogs I have

4 - the number of blogs I actually update

20 - the number of sore muscles I have from 10 measly push-ups yesterday

0 - the number of TV's in our house that work with the new digital TV set up

1 - the number of skulls (Moose) in my library (compliments of GrizzlyGramps)

5 - the number of days Sam will go to Vacation Bible School next week

13 - the number of peonies in vases around my house

3 - the number of photo shoots I have coming up

5 - the number of hours I got to spend playing with my kids this afternoon

11:12 - the numbers on my clock - 'night all!



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Scenic Sunday - BWCA 2009

PapaBear and GrizzlyGramps went to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area last week and came home with these beautiful photographs and a whopper of a fish story...


You might remember the trip PapaBear and I took after the campground closed last year. They paddled and portaged their way to the same area, but stayed at a different campsite.

One day they brought the entire food bag along with them in the canoe rather than hanging at the campsite and had themselves a shore lunch.





I don't think they'll be trying a new entry point any time soon with so many nice size fish there. So which one of the 55+ entry points did they go in at?





Don't you know a fisherman never shares his secrets?

They will share the fish tales though...Not once but twice PapaBear's line got snapped off by a Northern when he was jigging for Sunfish and later, Walleye. That isn't uncommon, but what is unheard of is catching both of those Northerns later on and retrieving his hooks!

For more Scenic Sunday Posts head over here.

Sometimes we are so busy with everyday life that we forget to appreciate the beauty that God has placed before us. Scenic Sundays are about stopping and smelling the roses. And while you're smelling those roses, take a picture so that others can share in your appreciation for the beauty of His creation. So pretty please come join us for Scenic Sundays. Maybe we'll see things in a different light.

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Wordless Wednesday - What goes up

A swingin' good time

It was SO fun to photography my in-laws with the kids yesterday! I had to share this final shot I got of the guys before I go take my nap.

Random Picture Challenge #4

This week Brittany challenged us to go to the 3rd folder and then to the first picture with brown in it.
My picture isn't that old because for some reason the pictures from my point and shoot camera go into a folder from 2005 - even if I took them yesterday. So, this is my third folder. The brown can be found in that tasty little treat on Grandpa's knee -otherwise known as Sam' s greatest weakness. (Most people call them cupcakes.)


PapaBear took this photo of Sam's first time ice fishing this year. His very first time on the ice last year, I went with to take pictures.

It's fitting that part of the picture challenge this week is to find something brown because really, those cupcakes was the reason Sam went fishing.

Grandpa? Are you going to eat that last cupcake?
(a minute later)
Hmmm....That cupcake looks lonely.
(a minute after that)
Do you think someone should eat that cupcake? To which Grandpa replies, "Sam, would you like to eat this cupcake?"

And as if the thought had never crossed his mind, Sam replies, "Oh Suuuuure. I can eat that cupcake!"

Thanks Brittany for a way to document a silly Sam story! To see more participants entries, click here.

Alphabitty Moments - the letter C

Welcome to the third installment of Alphabitty Moments!
If this is your first time visiting, you can learn more about this carnival by clicking here. Entries are welcome throughout the week, but I will always post the next letter on Thursdays.

It's easy to participate. Each week pick something that starts with the letter of the week. Like this:


Write about why you chose that word to remind you of a special moment in your life and then add your name to the Mr. Linky below.

This winter was Sam's first time on skis. He was timid at first, but then he wanted to go up and down the hills over and over again. Our yard has just enough of an incline that he can go up and down by himself. He wears a size 30 shoe this year and a size 40 ski. His gear won't always be so small but thankfully we have a few more pairs to choose from in the years to come.


How many of you thought I would use Julia's curls for my letter C? I considered it and it would be appropriate since her hair doesn't stay the same for very long, but I opted for Cuddles this week. I hope the day doesn't come, but if she ever thinks she's too old for a cuddle, we'll have these cute pictures of her with her daddy and her grandpa to treasure.



I'm pretty sure that you can click on the images to see them larger....
Don't feel like you HAVE to do the scrapbook pages in order to participate. It's perfectly OK to simply add pictures to your post.

Party Hardy

I celebrated my 32nd birthday with a Big Sledding Bash at our park. It felt like -29 when we woke up but we were too busy preparing food to notice.
Here's the china cabinet that we used to chill some of the beverages. The rest fit in the refrigerator (once we moved all our condiments across the street to the park refrigerator)


The first round of guests that arrived included this cutie...

His mom, MckMama, his aunt, Hilary, and blogging In Real Life friends, Esther and her sweet daughter, Emma.


Because it was so cold we didn't have to rent skis. That meant PapaBear could join the fun. He took me for a couple rides on our vintage toboggan.


Tanner went down the hill at least 20 times.


Sam preferred keeping watch over the fire with Grandpa, but I did get him to go down once with Isaac and I. Thanks Gene for keeping the fire going for so long!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Bill and Trudy took a spin around the park on their skis. Talk about brave!


Seventeen of our guests, yes SEVENTEEN went sledding or skiing in sub zero temps. I was very, very impressed.

Back inside, the kids played games (This one is a relay where the kids wore big boots and mittens and retrieved a marshmallow from a bowl before handing their gear off to their teammate.)




Thanks Linda for giving Julia a hand!


Pin the nose on the snowman was a tad tamer, but still fun.



For the adults I made up a couple of games. One, we had people guess the amount of water (in ounces) that a big jar of snow would melt into. Turns out a packed full gallon jar turns into over 6 1/2 cups of water.


The other game was a family affair. Each family was given a cup with an ice cube in it and a washcloth. Their task: to melt the ice cube first. The only rule: no putting it in your mouth

I had a few more games and activities up my sleeve, but we never needed them. People spread all over the house, visiting, eating, playing.... I turned the master bedroom into a movie theater and put the train table in there to make more room in the playroom. Sam's room became the reading room, the playroom was a popular place, filled with 'new' toys...

One of the activities we didn't get to (until today) was using shaving cream as snow to drive cars around in. Judging by how messy Julia got, this was probably a good thing.



It was the perfect way to celebrate my birthday! THANK YOU EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU WHO CAME OUT TO THE WOODS TO CELEBRATE WITH ME AND FOR BRINGING SO MUCH YUMMY FOOD!

(like these tasty meringue mushrooms Kitty brought)

The icing on the cake Christmas cookie

Our favorite Christmas party of the season was today. Six inches of snow and high winds didn't stop our crew from getting together to share some holiday cheer at PapaBear's parent's house. We are sleeping over because of the bad weather. You know you have wonderful inlaws when you can invite yourself over at the last minute to spend the night! Julia crashed at 7pm because she didn't take a nap, but Sam is watching The Santa Claus with us. I logged on tonight to check on the status of my offer on this fireplace mantel and to order a free 8x10 from Walgreens. (Use the code "FREEGIFT" by midnight (central time) to order a print for youself)


I'm still deciding which photo to enlarge but as for the fireplace - It's mine for only 25 bucks.
I just need to brave blizzard conditions to pick it up. I can't wait!

4 the love of Christmas

Esther answered these 25 questions on her blog and I thought it would be fun to answer them for our family. The snow is falling outside and I'm about to curl up in the library next to our tree and do my devotional, but before I do, here's our family's version....

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. Next year I want to try these for some of the hard to wrap gifts. Sometimes we use gift bags - if we have them from previous years. I've never bought any for Christmas gifts, only reused them.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Both. When I was growing up we had a fake one every year except the year our farm was paid off. That year I insisted we go out to the woods and cut down one from the property. It was the ugliest tree, but oh so special. When we got married we picked out a real tree from the Snyder's Drug Store lot. When BrotherBear was a baby we went to Z's Trees to cut down our own. We did that until SisterBear's second Christmas when we purchased a tree from a lot, 'planted' it in Grandma and Grandpa's yard, then went out to 'chop' down our tree.

This year we chose a wild balsam from a nearby Christmas tree lot, but because we had a few artificial ones we've accumulated and our house is so big, we put a fake one up in the living room and one in Sam's room. Our other fake one is at my sister-in-laws apartment this year.

3. When do you put up the tree? I really like to wait until the first snow fall so it varies each year. Sometimes I get to anxious and get a tree without any snow on the ground. Last year it was December 10th - too late in my book. We've always had great luck with our real trees being up for a whole month and not dropping very many needles.

4. When do you take the tree down? It depends. I like to wait for a weekend where PapaBear can keep the kids distracted so I can work uninterrupted.

5. Do you like eggnog? Like doesn't even come close to my feelings about eggnog. I drink it by the gallon - straight from the container. It is in my top three on my favorite foods list. It is my main protein source for the month of December. I'm not the only one who loves it.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? The only thing I can think of right now is a 10 speed bike I got at my Grandma and Grandpa's house.

7. Hardest person to buy for? My father-in-law. Once I figure out what to get him, it's clear sailing from there. SisterBear has been difficult to buy for until this Christmas. She started liking art activities around her birthday so that saved us then. Now that she's starting to pretend with dolls and the play kitchen I've got some direction to go with her gift list. We don't do Princesses or Barbies in our house so that shortens the options quite a bit.

8. Easiest person to buy for? BrotherBear. If it has wheels, he'll like it.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Three of them. Two for the kids to play with and one that we keep up high and put the baby Jesus in on Christmas Eve.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail. If I'm going to see the family over the holidays I save postage and give them their card in person.

11.Favorite Christmas tradition? There are so many! I can't pick one so here are some I can think of off the top of my head:

Driving around to look at Christmas lights
Singing Carols with PapaBear's extended family before PapaBear reads the Christmas story
Decorating Christmas cookies with PapaBear's family
Unwrapping a Christmas book each night in December
Writing a letter to Santa each year (they are displayed at Grandma and Grandpa's house)
Giving the kids an ornament each year
Making ornaments for PapaBear

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? White Christmas. A Christmas Story. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Charlie Brown Christmas

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? The day after Christmas. Seriously! I find some great deals and then spread out the rest of the spending throughout the year.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? You bet.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? See #5.

16. Lights on the tree? White. Always white. We have some poinsettia garland over a doorway that has green and red lights and SisterBear has pink lights in her room, but our trees and outdoor decorations (none this year, hopefully next year) will always be white.

17. Favorite Christmas songs? "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas." Always makes me laugh. Of course I do like the more traditional ones too, but this one I don't hear that often so I'm not sick of it.

18.Travel at Christmas or stay home? Growing up we either had to travel 3 hours or 6 hours to spend holidays with extended family, but our kids won't have to do that. We live 15 minutes from my in laws and no more than an hour or two from any of my family. The downside of this is that we can make it to two gatherings in one day. Hustling from place to place takes away from the magic of the day, yet I feel blessed to have so much family to spend holidays with.
Last year we spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house so the kids could experience what we did as children. We brought all our sleeping bags and slept downstairs by the fire. We even brought our stockings to hang on the fireplace. Now that we live in a park we have to be home to open and close the gate each year.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Sure I can, but what I really want to know is whether it's Donner or Donder.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? A star. A Moravian one. Unless there isn't room - I like my trees to reach the ceiling if possible.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? The four of us open gifts on Christmas Eve morning if there's going to be enough time. This year I have a photo shoot Christmas Eve morning so we might have to wait. We spend Christmas Eve with extended family and open the gift from the gift exchange that night. On Christmas Day we get our gifts from Santa in our stockings. We spend an afternoon/evening with PapaBear's parents opening gifts anywhere from the 23-26th. It all depends on the schedule that year. It's nice to spread things out and not be rushed. We'll spend an afternoon at my mom's new house on Friday, visit with a big group of friends this coming Saturday, and have my FIL's family over here the Sunday after Christmas.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Keeping up with the rest of my life's responsibilities. It's easy and fun to do all the Christmas traditions, but things easily fall apart around here when I don't stay on top of the cleaning and cooking. Last week was rough in that department. This week I planned my menu around the crockpot so things are running smoother. The other thing I struggle with is that we give homemade (food) gifts and I want them to be as fresh as possible. That leaves me scrambling the week of Christmas to get everything made and wrapped.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? We don't have a color theme to our ornaments. What I do is pick ornaments for the kids each year that relates to something they are interested in. This year Sam is getting a knit sucker. The kid loves candy so this one fits him perfectly. I found a J that looks like a cutout cookie with frosting for Julia. She learned how to say her name a few months ago (she'd been saying JoJo for a year). I write the year on each ornament so they will know how old their were when they received it. I still hang my ornaments from my childhood on our tree, making for a more old fashioned look to our "bony" tree.

24. What do you want for Christmas this year? An electric fireplace. The snow is blowing into our house. Need I say more?

25. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? Giving of course. That's not to say that I don't love the gifts we receive. We are blessed with a generous family and a Savior who gave us the best gift of all.

Over the river and through the woods

to Grandma's (and Grandpa's) house we go


Daddy knows the way, to make the snow spray

Through bright and drifting snow, oh-

Over the river and through the woods
Oh how the wind doth blow
It stings the toes

and bites the nose,

so into the house we go.

Same song, second verse. A little more rhyming for what it's worth...

For 30 plus years and many more to come

a family tradition lives

The kids know the way


to make sprinkles stay

they wouldn't have it any other way - a.

Thirty plus years with many more to come


watching the kids have fun.


They work so hard


they need to rest




Until into his mouth it goes.